Trust spent £603k on trans changing room tribunal
PA MediaA health trust spent more than £600,000 on an employment tribunal which found it harassed a group of female nurses by requiring them to share a changing room with a transgender woman.
Judges ruled County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust "violated the dignity" of the nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital and bosses failed to deal with their concerns.
In a report to the trust's board, chief executive Steve Russell confirmed the cost of the litigation and said there would be no appeal to the findings.
Bethany Hutchinson, one of the nurses who brought the complaint, described the amount of public money spent on the case as "appalling".
In January, the tribunal ruled bosses of Darlington Memorial Hospital created a "hostile environment" for female nurses who objected to trans nurse Rose Henderson using the single sex changing area, for which the trust later apologised.
Allegations made by the nurses about Rose Henderson's behaviour were ruled to be "not well founded" and dismissed, along with claims the nurses had been victimised.
'Deeply upsetting'
In a report to the trust's board, Russell said about £603,000 had been spent on the tribunal.
He said the tribunal concluded "requiring the [nurses] to share a female changing room with a trans woman" was "harassment" and bosses' contributed to an "intimidating environment" by not responding adequately to concerns raised by staff.
"I am sorry for the distress caused to all colleagues impacted by this," Russell said.
He said the trust recognised there would be "concerns" about how much had been spent, adding: "We will review our approach to identify whether there were missed opportunities."
Russell said work was under way to review its policies and improve its provision of private changing spaces.
Russell's report also confirmed the trust would not be appealing the tribunal's findings and it had been working with the nurses' legal representatives to "try and resolve the issues" after the employment judges said the nurses were "entitled to a remedy".
Hutchinson, whose claim alongside the other seven nurses was supported by Christian Concern, said: "To know that this enormous sum of public money has been spent resisting what should be common sense is deeply upsetting for those of us on the front line."
